Chapter 112: Absolute Insanity! (Part Two)

"Madam!" Mother Huang exclaimed in alarm, then stamped her foot and rushed over, eager to examine the wound on Jiang Pingzhi’s forehead. "Second Young Master, are you alright?"

Jiang-Li was blinded by rage and momentarily lost her composure. But upon seeing the blood on Jiang Pingzhi’s forehead and hands, her heart suddenly sank. In a moment of panic, she wanted to check on her son’s injury, but as she shifted, she caught sight of Jiang Yuzhi, who was kneeling and sobbing at her feet.

Resentment flared within her once more, and she clenched her fists, sitting back down.

Jiang Pingzhi had been harboring a fire in his belly since the previous night. Now, having been struck for no apparent reason, he was both ashamed and furious. He shoved Mother Huang aside and, with a cold face, addressed Jiang-Li directly: "Is there nothing we can discuss calmly, Mother? Does throwing such a tantrum solve anything?"

His tone was incredibly disrespectful—a complete departure from the humble, polite, and refined Second Young Master of the Jiang family everyone knew.

Mother Huang shivered at the sight. She had intended to help him dress his wound, but now her feet felt rooted to the ground, unable to move a single step.

As he spoke, Jiang Pingzhi pulled a handkerchief from his sleeve with deliberate slowness and pressed it against the wound on his temple. He looked back at Jiang-Li, his expression cold and disdainful.

Jiang-Li had never seen her son like this. Caught in his piercing gaze, she felt her heart tremble uncontrollably. She struggled to maintain the dignity befitting an elder and demanded angrily, "Solve the problem? What else do you want to solve? Look at what you’ve done! Because of you, I have lost all face today. What is this attitude of yours? Are you still not going to tell me the truth? What have you been doing behind my back and your father's all these days?"

Since the beating he received yesterday, Jiang Pingzhi had experienced a sudden clarity overnight.

For the past few days, he had been deeply uneasy about his actions with Li Xun'er. He feared the plan might go awry, failing to achieve his goals, and he feared that if Jiang Weixian found out, he would not be spared, leading to a disastrous outcome. He had lived in constant torment and anxiety.

However, after enduring a brutal beating in a state of extreme terror yesterday, he suddenly let go of his fears. What was the use of being afraid? What was done could not be undone. Apart from continuing down this path, he had no other choice.

Therefore, as Jiang-Li questioned him—clearly already knowing something—he didn't care anymore. He curled his lips into a cold, mocking smile. "Oh? And what is it that you want me to say, Mother?"

Jiang-Li, not expecting this reaction, opened her mouth, but found herself at a loss for words.

Jiang Yuzhi, filled with resentment, suddenly scrambled to her feet, rushed over, grabbed his collar, and shrieked, "Are you still playing the fool? You’ve been colluding with Princess Changping, haven't you? You used me to find out the location of the private room Yan Yao booked at the Vermillion Bird Pavilion, and you conspired to make her fall! Those scholars... they were all murdered by your conspiracy, weren't they? Speak! Was it you? Why did you drag me into this? Why would you harm me like this?"

Jiang Pingzhi had initially assumed it was the Lin family who had revealed his plot against Lin Yanyao to Jiang-Li. He never imagined that the murder at the Vermillion Bird Pavilion would be exposed as well. His heart skipped a beat.

Having just lost blood from his head, the shaking from Jiang Yuzhi made him dizzy. Furious, he shoved her away. "What are you screeching about?"

The force was too great, and Jiang Yuzhi was thrown to the ground again. Jiang-Li could no longer sit still and stood up, leaning against the table.

Jiang Pingzhi stared at Jiang Yuzhi with a cold, gloomy expression. "You were used and manipulated because you are stupid! I won't hide the truth from you: at the Vermillion Bird Pavilion, it was Zhou Changyin who wanted to frame Wu Tan from the start. You were the one who invited the wolf into the house and brought the trouble upon us. I merely pushed the boat with the current and took advantage of the opportunity. Do you understand? Your troubles were not invited by me. Even without me, you would still be a fool who gets used and dragged down. So—don't come to me with your life-or-death theatrics. We are not on the same path, and I owe you nothing. Stop your brawling in front of me!"

Jiang Yuzhi lay there for a long time, having been struck by his harsh words. Although she understood his meaning, she found it hard to accept. Gritting her teeth, she crawled up to claw at him again. "You're lying! You ruined me! You are deranged, harming your own sister..."

Jiang Pingzhi had never held much affection for this sister. He closed his eyes, gritted his teeth, and finding her intolerable, raised his hand and slapped her.

"Pingzhi!" Jiang-Li, sensing the situation spiraling out of control, shouted in anger, but it was too late.

The slap was delivered with full force. Jiang Yuzhi let out a wail and fell backward. Seeing her head about to strike the corner of the table, Jiang-Li lunged forward, turning her body to shield her.

The impact caused not just the mother and daughter to stumble, but the table to tip over, sending tea cups crashing to the floor.

"Madam! Miss!" Mother Huang rushed over in a panic to help them. But Jiang-Li had an injury on her leg, and Jiang Yuzhi was so terrified by the crazed Jiang Pingzhi that her legs had turned to jelly. Mother Huang couldn't lift them and could only kneel by their side, frantic with worry.

Jiang-Li was now thoroughly incensed. With a ferocious expression, she demanded, "She is your own sister..."

Before she could finish, Jiang Pingzhi interrupted her with a cold, mocking laugh, showing no pity for the two women on the floor. "Exactly because she is my sister, you should teach her to keep her mouth shut. I did everything, including having Lin Yanyao abducted yesterday! I didn't want to tell you because I feared scaring you, but since you know, you know. Even if not for me, for the sake of the Jiang family, I believe staying silent shouldn't be difficult for you, right?"

"W-what?" Hearing rumors was one thing, but hearing Jiang Pingzhi admit it so frankly was another. Jiang-Li felt as if thunder were crashing in her mind; her tongue wouldn't obey her. Finally, she could only scream, "Are you insane? Why would you do such things? Do you know that if this is exposed, not even the entire Duke of Ping Estate and the Empress combined could save you?"

Before she finished, Jiang Pingzhi interrupted with another cold sneer. "Actually, Mother, you're just afraid that if my actions are exposed, it will implicate the Duke's Estate, right? After all, your eldest son's title and your beloved daughter's future are at stake..."

"You..." Jiang-Li was choked by his words, her face turning pale and then blue. How could this child think such things? She valued her eldest son and doted on her youngest daughter, but she asked herself, she had never treated Jiang Pingzhi poorly!

Jiang Pingzhi continued, "Do you know why I plotted to murder the top three scholars? Do you know why I cooperated with Li Xun'er? Because I am not content with being a mere fourth-place graduate! Since everything in this Duke's Estate is not mine, I have to plot for what I want myself. Mother, you should be grateful that I only wanted to seize fame and fortune from the outside. Otherwise..." He sneered again, a sinister, icy look in his eyes.

***

Jiang-Li looked at his menacing gaze and began to tremble all over. Forgetting the pain in her leg, she crawled up, limped over to Jiang Pingzhi, grabbed his shoulders, and stared into his eyes, trembling as she said, "Do not touch your elder brother or your sister. I will hide what you did from your father. Whatever you want to do in the future, do it—I will listen to you!"

Looking at the sheer terror in her eyes, Jiang Pingzhi felt a wave of sorrow rise within him. The title belonged to his eldest brother, everything in the Jiang family belonged to his eldest brother, and his sister had the protection of their aunt and a bright future. Only he was redundant, insignificant!

If Li Xun'er hadn't lured him and given him this chance, he might have accepted his fate and lived a mediocre life forever. But now—he was no longer willing to remain so ordinary and small.

Especially now, looking at the way his mother gazed at him, he felt he had found a sense of standing at the top, looking down on others. He had to admit, the feeling was truly intoxicating.

"Then... it’s a deal!" he said. With that, he brushed Jiang-Li’s hands from his shoulders.

Losing her support, Jiang-Li’s legs buckled, and Mother Huang rushed over to help her. Jiang Pingzhi cast a final, warning glance at Jiang Yuzhi, then turned and walked out, closing the door behind him without a backward glance.

Once he was gone, Jiang-Li completely collapsed, retreating several steps until Mother Huang managed to guide her into a chair.

Jiang Pingzhi hadn't closed the door. Jiang-Li hurriedly sent Mother Huang to shut it, then turned to her, her voice trembling. "Madam, the Second Young Master seems to have gone mad. These things he’s done are not trivial. Do you really intend to hide this from the Master?"

"What else can I do?" Jiang-Li replied, her voice still shaking. "Even if he shouldn't have done it, he has done it. Should I go to the authorities and have him arrested and executed? Look at how he was just now—do you really think if he were taken to the magistrate, he would take all the blame and let our house off the hook?"

She couldn't bear to part with her son, and even less could she bear to lose the Duke of Ping Estate and her current life. In the end, she could only slap her thigh in frustration. "It is truly a curse. How did I never notice this child was so deep?"

Now that she knew, she was completely powerless. However, as Jiang Pingzhi had said, since he hadn't planned to move against the family or seize his brother's title, he at least still held some shred of familial affection.

Jiang-Li could only comfort herself with this thought: as long as Jiang Pingzhi didn't strike his own kin, she would turn a blind eye to everything else. Fearing Jiang Yuzhi couldn't keep the secret, she pulled her up and gave her a stern warning to keep her mouth shut.

***

Back in his own courtyard, Jiang Pingzhi found Tianlu waiting for him. Tianlu had been about to report the latest news, but seeing the blood on the handkerchief covering the wound on his forehead, he froze. "Young Master, you are injured? Should I call a physician?"

"Is there something you need?" Jiang Pingzhi asked, walking inside with a cold face.

"Oh?" Seeing that he didn't seem to care, Tianlu didn't ask further and quickly reported the news. "I don't know if the Madam told you, but I just heard from the stables: the carriage driver who took the Fourth Miss to the Lin family said that the Lin family did not agree to give the cousin as a concubine to the Eldest Young Master."

Jiang Pingzhi was not surprised in the least and gave a mocking scoff. "Aunt was too wishful. What kind of family is the Lin family? Even if the Duke of Ping Estate is high-ranking, they would never agree to let their daughter be a concubine, especially since they were already enemies!"

Jiang Weixian was also making a futile effort. He hadn't even understood the situation clearly before daring to seek advice from Empress Jiang. It was all wasted effort!

Seeing that he was in a bad mood, Tianlu hesitated before speaking tentatively. "However... the cousin was promised to another family today..."

"What?" Jiang Pingzhi was about to step inside when he stopped, nearly tripping over the threshold. After steadying himself, he turned back and frowned at Tianlu. "She was promised to someone else? In this situation, how is that possible... shouldn't the Lin family have sent her far away?"

Tianlu didn't dare look him in the eye. "It's the Second Young Master of the Marquis of Dingyuan's estate. They say the display was grand, and the betrothal gifts were at least half again as much as the ones we offered."

"You mean Wu Qingyu? Wu Qingyu of the Marquis of Dingyuan's estate?" Jiang Pingzhi wanted to laugh, as if hearing a joke. He felt it was a ridiculous rumor, but the sound and breath caught in his throat, and he couldn't bring himself to laugh.

Did the Lin family beg the Wu family to back them up? Regardless, Lin Yanyao's reputation was already ruined... how could the Wu family agree?

It wasn't that Jiang Pingzhi felt any lingering attachment to Lin Yanyao, but hearing that she had so quickly been promised to another—and a family as prestigious as the Marquis of Dingyuan’s—made him feel uneasy. He had spent so long calculating this, and now that this change had occurred—even if it no longer had anything to do with him—he felt a deep sense of dissatisfaction.

***

At the Wu estate, Wu Qingyu returned and knelt in the Old Matriarch’s courtyard. Wu Tan did not appear, having slipped back to Jingchun Study to catch up on sleep.

Inside, the Old Matriarch had already interrogated Cheng Cheng that morning and learned the full story. While she admitted Lin Yanyao was a good girl, which family didn't look at a girl's reputation when choosing a wife? If it were in the past, she wouldn't have needed Wu Qingyu to beg; if he had just mentioned wanting to marry a girl from the Lin family, she would have risked her pride and gone to the Lin family to ask for her immediately.

But in the current situation, as an elder, it was impossible for her not to feel resentful. So, she let Wu Qingyu kneel and did not show herself.

After Wu Qingyu had knelt for an hour, officers from the Jingzhao Prefecture arrived at the estate, making a loud scene at the gates, claiming that the Second Young Master, Wu Qingyu, was involved in a case and must be taken to the yamen.

The Magistrate's officers drew attention wherever they went, let alone shouting for arrests at the gates of the Marquis of Dingyuan's estate. Steward Qin, bewildered by this turn of events, quickly persuaded them to enter the estate to preserve the family's dignity and came to report the news.

Wu Qingyu, however, was decisive. Before Steward Qin could finish reporting to the Old Matriarch, he stood up and followed the officers away.

The Old Matriarch, confused and anxious, sent Steward Qin to follow them. Two hours later, Wu Qingyu returned, unharmed and without having been imprisoned. He hadn't eaten or drunk anything, and he simply went back to the Old Matriarch’s courtyard and knelt down again. He said nothing; he just knelt.

After hearing Steward Qin’s report, the Old Matriarch was relieved but even more furious. "What kind of person did he abduct? He only just returned last night; even if he wanted to abduct someone, he wouldn't have had the time! It’s likely he colluded with the Lin family. It’s infuriating! The Lin family's reputation is reputation, but our Wu family's reputation is just filth for him to play with? That girl Wu Tan is also unreliable. I raised her, and in the end, she’s become a servant to the Lin family. Such a big matter, and they did it behind my back without even telling me? Go out and ask: in this capital, which family’s juniors act like this?"

The Old Matriarch rarely spoke so crudely; she was clearly incensed.

"Old Matriarch, please calm down! Calm down!" Mother Zhou handed her tea and rubbed her chest. But when it came to the marriages of the young masters and mistresses, especially one so complicated, it wasn't her place to speak.

Once the Old Matriarch had drunk some tea and suppressed her anger, Mother Zhou asked cautiously, "Old Matriarch, what do you think should be done about this marriage?"

Wu Qingyu could take all the blame on himself, but because of the Lin Yanyao incident, it had caused such a stir in the city. Even if the Jingzhao Prefecture was willing to give the Lin family face and close the case, not everyone would buy it. Discussions and suspicions would follow them everywhere. Regardless, if Lin Yanyao entered the family, her reputation as a granddaughter-in-law would be tarnished.

The Old Matriarch felt a tightness in her chest. She glared at Mother Zhou and snapped, "What else can be done? Go out and ask that little brat: what if I don't agree? Let me tell you, if I really don't agree, he would probably boil his own grandmother and eat her, believe it or not?"

Although the Old Matriarch was from Suzhou and Hangzhou, she lacked the gentleness of southern women. Her brother had been a general under the late Marquis, and by deception and persuasion, he had married his sister to the Marquis. By the time the Marquis realized he had been swindled, it was already their wedding night, so he had resigned himself to his fate. Because it was her brother who had tricked her into this marriage, the Old Matriarch felt somewhat guilty and usually restrained her explosive temper. Fortunately, the Wu family's relationships weren't complex, and the old Marquis had been a tolerant man. She had lived her whole life without much to be angry about. If it weren't for Wu Qingyu reminding her, she might have forgotten her natural temper.

Mother Zhou had served her for many years and wasn't bothered, but the two maids in the room, hearing her use profanity, pressed their lips together to suppress their laughter, unable to straighten their backs.

The Old Matriarch glared at them, feeling a bit embarrassed, her face flushing slightly. "Go back to work! Why are you standing there?"

"Yes!" The two maids covered their mouths and scurried away.

Mother Zhou sighed and went to the outer room. Peeking through the curtain, she saw Wu Qingyu still kneeling rigidly, so she returned to plead for him. "Old Matriarch, you’ve vented your anger. Since you’re prepared to agree, let the Second Young Master get up. Changtai says he’s been traveling for days, and counting yesterday, he hasn't slept for three days..."

The Old Matriarch’s gaze softened slightly, but she remained stubborn. "Let him kneel and think it through. Acting first and reporting later to his elders—he’s turning the world upside down!"

After scolding him, she suddenly remembered something, and her face darkened even further. "Where is Meng? Her son has caused such a disaster, and she’s not even asking? What is the meaning of hiding her head in the sand like a turtle? Go! Call her here!"

Mother Zhou, knowing the Old Matriarch’s anger wouldn't subside quickly, could only comply. "Yes!"

Mother Zhou turned and walked into the courtyard. Seeing her, Wu Qingyu gave a wide grin. Mother Zhou sighed at him and left the courtyard for the South Courtyard.

In the South Courtyard, Meng had been anxious all day, not knowing what to do. But once the Lin family accepted the betrothal gifts and Wu Qingyu returned, she calmed down. At that moment, she was busy with her account books and abacus.

Shurong, watching from the side, was worried. "Madam, the Second Young Master has been kneeling in the Old Matriarch's courtyard for a long time. Are you really not going to do anything? Are you just going to accept this marriage?"

Meng didn't even look up as she sneered. "Learn from your Second Young Master. Can’t you see who really runs this house? If my words had any weight, he would be kneeling in my courtyard right now."

However, she truly hadn't expected the Lin family to be so shameless as to actually agree to this marriage. When they came looking for trouble back then, they didn't have this look on their faces! So-called scholars—they are all the same when they decide to be shameless!

Thinking this, Meng’s anger flared. She grabbed the abacus, gnashed her teeth, and finally, unable to restrain herself, she flung the abacus against the doorframe.

The abacus frame shattered, and the beads scattered everywhere. Mother Zhou, just entering the courtyard, was hit square in the face by the flying beads!